16112023-JTR-01.qxd 11/16/2023 12:39 AM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune MAN HELD WITH 20-GM HEROIN, UNLICENSED PISTOL IN ADAMPUR RADHIKA MADAN'S SANAA TO BE SCREENED AT IFFI RACHEL ZEGLER OPENS UP ABOUT HER CHARACTER LUCY GRAY BAIRD The Jalandhar (Rural police) recovered heroin and an unlicensed pistol from an Adampur resident at a naka in the town.P2 Radhika Madan and Pooja Bhatt-starrer Sanaais all set to be screened at the 54th International Film Festival of India.P3 She’s a songbird or is she? Rachel Zegler is known for her soulful singing voice and stupendous acting prowess. P4 » » » FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR MAX 27°C | MIN 13°C YESTERDAY MAX 27°C | MIN 13°C SUNSET THURSDAY 5.28 PM SUNRISE FRIDAY 6:56 AM THURSDAY | 16 NOVEMBER 2023 | JALANDHAR INBRIEF MAN BOOKED FOR OUTRAGINGMODESTY Phagwara: The Shahkot police have booked one person on the charge of outraging woman's modesty. Investigating Officer (IO) Sarwann Singh said the suspect was identified as Amrit Pal, alias Sanni, a resident of Parjian Khurd village. Amrita of the same village complained to the police that the suspect barged into her house on November 7, attacked her and her husband with a sharp weapon, tore her clothes and dragged her. The IO said a case under Sections 354, 452, 323 and 148 of the IPC was registered against the suspect. No arrest has been made and raids are on to nab the absconding suspect. OC THREE BOOKED ON CHARGE OF ASSAULT Phagwara: The Shahkot police have booked three persons, including a father-son duo, on the charge of assaulting a woman. Investigating Officer (IO) Sarabjit Singh said the suspects had been identified as Chain Singh, a resident of Malupur village, his son Sukhwinder Singh alias Sukha, and Jassa, a resident of the same village. Swaran Kaur of the same village had complained to the police that the suspects barged into her house on November 13 evening and attacked her and her father with weapons, ransacked the place and threatened them with dire consequences. The IO said a case under Sections 323, 458 427, 506 and 34 of the IPC had been registered against the suspects. OC MINISTERIALSTAFFON PEN-DOWN STRIKE Phagwara: Work in offices of sub-divisional magistrates in Phagwara, Phillaur, Nakodar, Shahkot and Nurmahal remained paralysed on Wednesday following a pendown strike by members of the Punjab State Ministerial (DC Office) Employees Union. The union's Nakodar unit president Satindar Singh Sonu said the state body had decided to resume its pen-down strike till November 20 for the issuing of notification regarding acceptance of their demands. Their demands include immediate transfer of arrears of allowances into their accounts, extension of full pension benefits to staff members recruited after 2004 and complete implementation of the rules and proposals of the Sixth Pay Commission. OC BURNING STUBBLE: FARMERS BOOKED Crop residue burns in a field. TRIBUNE PHOTO for killing transgender 3 held for murder of relative Twoarrestedbetween two groups over rivalry Tribune News Service Jalandhar, November 15 The Lohian police on Tuesday arrested three persons for the murder of a man, a resident of Miani village. The victim’s relatives murdered him over a dispute regarding driving a tractor through a land in the village. Narinder Singh Aujla, DSP Shahkot, said on the , statement of Balwinder Kaur, wife of Santokh Singh, a resident of Miani village, a case was registered under Sections 307, 323, 324, 325, 148 and 149 of the IPC at the Lohian police station against Manpreeet Singh, Gurmail Singh, Kulwant Singh, Karnail Singh, Bakhshish Kaur, Mandeep Kaur, Baljinder Kaur, Amar- jit Kaur and Sarabjit Kaur, all residents of Miani village in Lohian on November 13. Santokh Singh was involved in a feud over driving a tractor on two kanal disputed land in the village. Santokh wanted to drive his tractor through the land, his nephews and their wives objected to the same. A clash ensued during which Santokh, his wife Balwinder and son Sarabjit Singh were beaten up by Santokh’s nephews, their wives and relatives. The suspects hit Santokh Decomposed body found in field Minor abducted on marriage pretext Our Correspondent Our Correspondent Phagwara, November 15 A decomposed body of a middle-aged married man was found under mysterious circumstances from a field at Dilbag Colony in Goraya. The deceased was identified as Harish Verma. He worked in a factory at Goraya. The body was recovered from stubble in a field. The deceased was missing since November 8 and his family members had informed the police about it. Verma went for a morning walk leaving his purse, mobile phone and bike at his rented house. He is survived by his wife and three kids, including two sons and one daughter. The police carry out investigation at the field from where a body was found in Goraya on Wednesday. TRIBUNE PHOTO Sukhdev Singh, Station House Officer (SHO), Goraya, said the police had sent the decomposed body to the Civil Hospital, Phillaur, for a post-mortem examination. The SHO said it could not be ascertained whether the deceased was murdered or it was a case of suicide. The truth would come to light only after receiving the autopsy report, the SHO said. Phagwara, November 15 On a complaint lodged by a resident Dev Kumar of Gandhwan village near Phagwara, the police have registered a case under Section 363 and 366A of the IPC against Amit Kumar, a migrant youth from Bihar, on the charge of abducting his minor daughter on the pretext of marrying her. The complainant told the police that his 15-year-old daughter studying in Class XII went to school on November 13, but did not return. He said some of his neighbours told him that she was seen with Amit. No arrest has been made so far. Canada-based smuggler nominated for trafficking BSF, Punjab Police arrested two with 540-gm heroin in a joint operation Tribune News Service Amritsar, November 15 The Amritsar Rural Police have nominated a Canadabased drug smuggler, Manbilawal Singh, in connection with the arrest of two drug peddlers and confiscation of 540-gm narcotics by the Border Security Force (BSF) and Punjab Police two days ago hinting that the module was being operated from foreign shores. The contraband was reportedly dropped by a drone. Those arrested were identified as Daljit Singh of Udhar Dhaliwal village and Palwinder Singh of Rajatal village located near the IndiaPakistan border. During a preliminary interrogation, the duo had named Manbilwal Singh who has links with Pakistan-based entities who got the drugs smuggled. Though his name had never figured in drug trafficking cases in the past, his father Punjab Singh and uncle Suba Singh were notorious drug smugglers. They had around 12 cases of drug smuggling registered against them and they were currently out on bail, informed Manmeet Singh, SHO, Gharinda police station, here. They had a huge chunk of agricultural land across the border fence. Even the BSF had restricted their entry to their land across the barbed border fence, said a police official privy to the investigations. Following the registration of a case against Manbilawal now, they are absconding from their houses in Rajatal village located near the IndiaPakistan border. According to the BSF authorities, on the intervening night of November 12 and 13, BSF jawans intercepted a drone and heard dropping sound near Udhar Dhaliwal village. During the search, the police recovered a packet of contraband (540 gm). Later, BSF jawans conducted a joint search operation with the Punjab Police in a surrounding area and arrested the two smugglers with a motorcycle from a house in the village. “The house was being used for sheltering the couriers who used to pick up the drug consignments from border villages,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police (Attari) Gurinderpal Singh Nagra. He added that as per an initial probe, Daljit Singh used to identify the spot where drugs could be smuggled and send the location to Manbilawal who further shared the same with the Pakistanbased smugglers for airdropping the consignment. He said they had written to higher authorities for issuing a Red Corner Notice against Manbilawal. Tribune News Service Jalandhar, November 15 The police have arrested two persons for the murder of Alisha, alias Rohit, a transgender. Those arrested have been identified as Gagan Arora and Lakhan Kesar, both residents of Jalandhar. The police said the motive behind the murder was an old rivalry between two transgender groups over distribution of areas. The police said rival group had issues with the victim and his group members’ activities in their area. The suspects had attacked Rohit and fired gunshots in his vicinity on October 31, following which a case was registered against 10 identified and a few unidentified persons on the same day. The police said the suspects attacked Rohit again on November 13 when he was walking towards his home. They fired gunshots at him. The two suspects in custody of the Jalandhar police. TRIBUNE PHOTO Two bullets hit him, one on his back and the other just below his head. The police said both group members were habitual offenders and a number of cases under the Arms Act, gambling and the IPC were registered against them at various police stations in the city. The police said four cases under various sections of the IPC and the Arms Act were registered against suspect Lakhan Kesar, six FIRs were registered against Rohit’s mother Neeru and 15 FIRs against his aunt Rukmani. The police said investigation in the case was still underway and raids were on to arrest other suspects named in the FIR. 203 acres of govt land freed from encroachments Special DGP (L&O) Arpit Shukla addresses mediamen at Hoshiarpur. Implement SC orders on stubbleburning: Spl DGP Reviews arrangements for CM’s rally Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, November 15 The Supreme Court ban on stubble burning should be implemented strictly by the Punjab Police. If any farm fire case is reported from an area under a police station, the SHO concerned would be held responsible and face action. Special DGP (Law and Order) Arpit Shukla stated this while addressing a press conference here at the Police Lines today. He said the SHOs had been instructed to make farmers organisations, village sarpanches and reputed persons of villages aware in this regard. He said if any farmer sets crop residue on fire, legal action would be taken against him. He said so far, 286 farm fire cases had been registered in the state out of which only two were from Hoshiarpur district. In response to a question, he said wherever stubble was set on fire in the state, action was taken against the SHO of the area and show-cause notice issued to him/her. He said flying squads had formed at sub-division level to prevent stubble burning, which were keeping a watch over villages. The Punjab Police was going tough against gangsters. The Special DGP said, “I have come to review security arrangements for the rally to be addressed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal in Hoshiarpur on November 18.” It is expected that he Aam Aadmi Party would blow the bugle for the Lok Sabha elections from Doaba during the rally. Hoshiarpur, November 15 In presence of Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar on Wednesday, the Panchayati Raj Department reclaimed 203 acres of encroached panchayat land at Bhambotar village in Talwara block of Hoshiarpur district. While addressing mediamen at the village community centre, the minister said 252 acres of panchayat land across four villages had been encroached upon out of which 203 acres were voluntarily vacated by village panchayats and farmers. He said some people had constructed houses on the remaining land. Assuring a forthcoming policy to resolve such encroachment issues, he vowed to prevent any inconvenience to people. He said the reclaimed land would be utilised for planting khair and teak trees. These trees would be harvested after taking approval from the department concerned and the amount received would be deposited in the state exchequer. The minister said around 13,000 acres of panchayat land had been freed from encroachments across the state. He said the department was making efforts to resolve court cases in order to get the remaining encroached panchayat land vacated. — OC Post Diwali, significant hike in farm fires in Jalandhar, Kapurthala districts Aparna Banerji Phagwara: The Bilga and Shahkot police have booked unidentified farmers on charge of burning paddy stubble in fields. SHOs Mahinder Pal and Jaswinder Singh said they received reports that farmers of Burj Kela, Dara Pur, Gumtala, Mau Sahib, Nagra, Sudhara Talwann and Mehsam villages under the Bilga police station and Eeno Wal, Punia Rame, Ram Pur and Reharrwan villages under the Shahkot police station set afire paddy stubble in their fields and violated government orders in this regard. The SHOs said cases under Section 188 of the IPC were registered against farmers, who were yet to be identified. OC The three suspects in custody of the Jalandhar police. TRIBUNE PHOTO on his head with a wooden stick after which he was taken to a hospital. His wife Balwinder Kaur gave a statement to the police on November 13. Santokh died during treatment at the hospital on the same day. Yadvinder Singh, SHO, Lohian police station, said, “Santokh had returned from Italy two months ago. He and his son Sarabjit had work permits of Italy. The land over which the two parties fought was property of the joint family, but there was a dispute over it.” Following investigation, the police arrested three suspects Kulwant Singh, alias Kanta, Gurmail Singh and his wife Sarabjit Kaur, all of Miani village. The suspects were presented in a court. Tribune News Service Jalandhar, November 15 In total reversal of the situation from a fortnight ago, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of farm fires in Jalandhar district after Diwali. A few stubble burning cases have been reported from Kapurthala. Since November 12, 131 farm fires had been reported in Jalandhar and 25 in Kapurthala districts. Jalandhar recorded 85 farm fires today and Kapurthala 17. In all, 1,039 farm fires have been reported in Jalandhar and 928 in Kapurthala this season so far. During Diwali celebra- tions, bursting of crackers wrecked the city’s air quality index (AQI) with the number hitting a maximum limit of 500 for the next two consecutive days. Although there has been a slight reduction in the AQI figure, it still remains between poor and very poor categories. Jalandhar recorded an average AQI of 235 today and the maximum was recorded at 306. On Diwali day, the AQI in Jalandhar was 306 and its average figure was recorded at 235. The AQI was worst hit on two days after Diwali. On November 13, the average AQI was 291 and maxi- A farmer sets paddy stubble on fire at a village in Jalandhar district. PHOTO: SARABJIT SINGH c m y b mum 500. On November 14, the average AQI was 222 and maximum 500. Dramatic reduction in farm fires before Diwali worked wonders for the air quality bringing its figure down to satisfactory levels. It rose again after the incessant bursting of crackers. Not a single farm fire was reported two days before Diwali in Jalandhar and Kapurthala. Kapurthala reported no farm fires from November 10 to 13. However, two farm fires were reported on November 12 and 13 in Jalandhar. The number of farm fires grew to 31 in Jalandhar and eight in Kapurthala on November 14. In Balachaur, Special DGP (Law and Order) Arpit Shukla held a meeting with Akhil Chaudhary, SSP , Nawanshahr, and other officers at the police station to discuss stubble burning issue in the district. He directed police officials to implement preventive measures and enhance patrolling to control farm fires in the region. He said 16 FIRs had been registered in Nawanshahr for violation of stubble burning ban and a fine of over Rs 1 lakh was imposed on violators so far. A few farmers had also been apprehended, he added.